The invention in general relates to the magnification of television images and more particularly concerns a novel system that is both compact and economical and projects an enlarged television image for lifelike viewing. The image produced by the system may be viewed in a lighted room.
A system that produces a large, lifelike television image that can be viewed in a lighted room has obvious important commercial advantages, and therefore has been a subject of much experimentation and research. Most commercial television image magnification systems have been forward projection systems. Any simple magnification system using an optical lens will produce an inverted and reversed image. Reinversion of the image may be accomplished by turning the image source, i.e. the television set, upside down. However, in forward projection systems the re-reversal of the image cannot be accomplished except by an electronic means or complex mirror or lens system all of which are relatively expensive. The present invention solves the inversion-reversal problem by inverting the television image and using rear projection which results in an image in the normal plane when viewed from the front of the screen. Previous rear projection image magnification devices have employed relatively expensive light intensification methods such as multiple television sources or photosensitive screens. Thus up to the present time all systems that have produced lifesize viewable television images have required large room size projection areas and/or have been priced out of the range of the average television viewer.
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a system for magnifying television images that overcomes one or more disadvantages of conventional television image magnification systems.
It is an important object of this invention to achieve the preceding object with a system that is relatively economical.
It is another object of this invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects in a system that requires relatively little room space.
It is another object of this invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects in a system that can be viewed in a lighted room.
It is a further object of this invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects in a system that can be used in combination with any conventional television set.
It is still another object of this invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects in a system that can be adjusted to maximize desirable magnified image characteristics.
It is another object of this invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects in a system that can provide lifelike visual and audio projection.
It is yet another object of this invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects in a system that is simple to operate and maintain.